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The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation supports cutting-edge research initiatives that engage communities in Canada and abroad

The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is proud to announce the 2016 recipients of its research fellowships. Every year, the Foundation awards up to five fellowships to intellectuals in the humanities and human sciences who are recognized for their productivity, their commitment to communicating their findings to the public, and their ability to devise innovative solutions to some of the major issues facing Canada and the world.

The five new fellows appointed this year conduct research on:

transnational labour rights,

the role of Indigenous peoples in climate change innovations,

the ways in which infrastructure affects citizenship,

climate change narratives,

and the complexities of legal responsibility in the case of multinational corporations.

In addition to receiving a total of $225,000 over the next three years, each new fellow will enjoy unique access to the rich intellectual network of researchers and practitioners who have joined the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation community before them – 63 fellows, 117 mentors, and 202 doctoral scholars over the past 14 years.

Morris Rosenberg, the Foundation’s president and CEO, said about the projects proposed by the 2016 Trudeau fellows: "I am very pleased to welcome these five outstanding individuals to the interdisciplinary, intergenerational, and cross-sectoral community of scholars, fellows and mentors that makes up the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. I believe that each of the fellows' projects not only addresses pressing societal issues, but does so through community-based, collaborative approaches that will reframe our understanding of these issues."

The 2016 Trudeau Fellows

Adelle Blackett, Faculty of Law, McGill University, Quebec - Drawing on her scholarship on and advocacy for social justice, notably domestic and migrant workers’ rights, Professor Adelle Blackett will develop case studies, lead high-level discussions and formulate recommendations on the role of transnational labour law in a globally interconnected world.

Deborah Cowen, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto, Ontario - Professor Deborah Cowen's research looks at how conflicts over infrastructures have come to define our political landscape. She rethinks citizenship through case studies in energy, transport and security with movements and communities who contest infrastructures of injustice, and work to assemble alternatives.

Catherine Potvin, Department of Biology, McGill University, Quebec - An expert in tropical rainforest conservation and climate change, Professor Catherine Potvin’s research seeks to foster cross-cultural learning on climate change with the goal of ensuring that Indigenous peoples of Canada become full partners in the country’s transition to a low-carbon economy and sustainable society.

Poonam Puri, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Ontario - Building on her expertise in corporate governance, Professor Poonam Puri’s research will develop pragmatic policy and suggest legal solutions to hold multinational corporations more accountable when they harm individuals or communities.

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Catriona Sandilands, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, Ontario - Professor Catriona Sandilands’s project will develop a significant public conversation about climate change, environmental justice, and everyday life, working from the premise that stories, writing, and storytelling –fiction and nonfiction, traditional or experimental– are a crucial ground in which to cultivate creative, collaborative, just, and meaningful responses to environmental issues.

About the Trudeau Fellowships

The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation fellowships were established in 2003 to encourage original initiatives and innovative projects that would not necessarily receive support through traditional funding mechanisms. Nominated by their peers and selected by an independent panel, Trudeau fellows come from all disciplines of the humanities and human sciences, and their research deals with one or more of the Foundation’s four key themes.

Since 2014, each fellow proposes a collaborative project in which other Foundation fellows, mentors, and scholars participate.

Drawing on her scholarship on and advocacy for social justice, notably domestic and migrant workers’ rights, Professor Adelle Blackett will develop case studies, lead high-level discussions and formulate recommendations on the role of transnational labour law in a globally interconnected world.

Professor Deborah Cowen's research looks at how conflicts over infrastructures have come to define our political landscape. She rethinks citizenship through case studies in energy, transport and security with movements and communities who contest infrastructures of injustice, and work to assemble alternatives.

An expert in tropical rainforest conservation and climate change, Professor Catherine Potvin’s research seeks to foster cross-cultural learning on climate change with the goal of ensuring that Indigenous peoples of Canada become full partners in the country’s transition to a low-carbon economy and sustainable society.

Building on her expertise in corporate governance, Professor Poonam Puri’s research will develop pragmatic policy and suggest legal solutions to hold multinational corporations more accountable when they harm individuals or communities.

Professor Catriona Sandilands’s project will develop a significant public conversation about climate change, environmental justice, and everyday life, working from the premise that stories, writing, and storytelling –fiction and nonfiction, traditional or experimental– are a crucial ground in which to cultivate creative, collaborative, just, and meaningful responses to environmental issues.